


House of Cards

by TheHomestuckWhovian



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Deception, Gen, Investigations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-28
Packaged: 2019-09-05 23:47:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 14,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16820887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheHomestuckWhovian/pseuds/TheHomestuckWhovian
Summary: Lila's lies are good, extreme enough to be impressive but not so much to be completely unbelievable. It would take some investigation and connections to be able to see through her deception.Or maybe just a working set of eyes and ears. That too.





	1. Alya

**Author's Note:**

> Chameleon was bullshit and I am going to respond with my own stuff.

"Ladybug! What's up?!" Alya was on her feet in seconds as her hero climbed through the window. "Is there another akuma you need help with?" She moved to shut off her computer.

Ladybug shook her head quickly, causing Alya to freeze. "Sorry, I didn't bring the fox miraculous with me. I actually wanted to talk to you about your blog."

"Oh, are you looking for another interview. Let me get my phone and we can do that right now."

Ladybug winced. "Actually, just the opposite. I need you to to take down a past interview."

Alya blinked. "What."

In all the times Ladybug had talked with Alya about her blog, it was to correct details or ask her to omit certain things. She had never been asked to completely remove anything before, especially not an interview. Had Ladybug spilled more details than she had intended? Was the information outdated? What was going on?

"I meant to ask you months ago, but with a particularly difficult akuma that day and a bunch of other stuff I never got the chance to talk to you about it." She sat on Alya's bed, looking anxious. "The interview with Lila Rossi needs to be taken down as soon as possible."

"What? Why?"

She sighed. "Look, Lila said things in the interview that were untrue. I had never met her before the incident where she was akumatized, and I'm worried her claiming that she is close to me is the reason Hawkmoth is targeting her multiple times. And she was claiming to have the fox miraculous when I confronted her in person, and unfortunately the confrontation did nothing so..."

Alya's jaw had dropped at this point, and her mind was reeling, struggling to catch up as she realized what Ladybug was saying.

She...what...how...?

Oh god, what had she done?

"Look, I know it is your blog, but what you post on there is read by most of Paris. Giving Lila a platform is only going to put you and your classmates in more danger, so I have to ask you to take it down." Ladybug stood, heading for the window. "You can decide whether to publicly explain the mistake or not, but please come talk to me if someone tells you they are close friends with me and please don't interview them."

Before she could climb out, Alya reached out and grabbed her arm, drawing her attention.

"I...I am so sorry," Alya apologized, a slight shakiness to her voice as she frantically tried to process the magnitude of her fuck-up. "You're right. I'll delete the video and have an apology out by the end of the week."

Ladybug nodded and gave a small smile. "This is why I chose you, Alya. You're a good hero. And heroes make mistakes sometimes."

With that, she disappeared out the window, leaving Alya alone.

"...Fuck."

* * *

This was an utter disaster.

Alya knew that her blog was popular. She had seen clips from her own livestreams and videos on the news, and she was credited as a source in articles about Ladybug. Something that had started out as a simple passion project (because Alya had always loved comic books and superheroes and now there were real life superheroes!), but expanded until she was considered the unofficial leading expert on the heroes of Paris.

Maybe it was when she was pinned against that wall with a car, when she realized that this superhero business was real, and that every time she was out there she could be a civilian casualty, and then decided to keep doing it. That was the moment she went from a casual fangirl gushing about her ships and the heroes into a journalist, like the ones who took pictures and wrote stories from the battlefield in war.

She knew the risk, as much as Marinette or Nino thought she didn't. She sometimes had nightmares about that car crushing her completely, about going through that swirling black portal before anyone could save her, about the horrifying loss of control she had experienced too many times, about doing more to Marinette than just a cruel prank when hatred began surging through her veins, about causing Chat Noir to freeze to death. She was well-acquainted with waking up in the middle of the night screaming, and while she probably wasn't the only one with some PTSD, she definitely had gotten herself involved in a lot more incidents than she had to. It was easier to be lighthearted about throwing herself into potentially deadly situations, to act like she didn't know that she had almost died and could _actually_ die, and that Ladybug could fix her broken ribs but death was something Alya was less confident about.

But she was determined to record it, to show everyone what happened on the front of the war Hawkmoth started. She did so much research after seeing the hieroglyphics about Ladybug, trying to trace a timeline of her appearances across history. She studied akumas and offered solutions for warding them away or destroying them (happy thoughts and an improvised flamethrower seemed to be the conclusion at this point). She filled her blog with information from extensive studies into what akuma victims had in common to maps to interviews to livestreams of the attacks. She showed people why they could trust Ladybug and Chat Noir, showed why surrendering to Hawkmoth's demands was not an option, showed why they needed everyone's support.

She put herself on the line to show the truth. Put herself in danger so others wouldn't have to. Do hours of research compiling a timeline so others wouldn't have to. Do all the hard work so others could understand and learn about their heroes with only a click of a button. And she was good at it. Good enough that Ladybug granted her the fox miraculous on occasion.

But this...this was the Chloé disaster all over again. No, this was worse than the Chloé disaster, because at least then she had to be akumatized to publicize the information without strong evidence.

Lila had lied right to Alya's face and she didn't even try to fact check it before publishing it online like she was a two-bit tabloid author.

And in hindsight, it felt obvious. The timeline didn't work, Jagged Stone had an alligator, not a kitten, and a quick Google search of Lila's name showed nothing connecting her with prominent figures like Prince Ali.

Nothing except her interview.

Alya watched through the video. Once. Twice. Three times. The fourth time she began transcribing everything said, and once that was done she began making notes of every contradiction, every issue with the timeline, every blatant falsehood. By the time she was done, the interview transcript was heavily annotated, with almost no statement being an absolute fact.

She was a failure of a journalist.

Staring at the transcript, she turned to her phone and sent a brief text to Nino.

_FoxyLady: i fucked up_


	2. Nino

FoxyLady: i fucked up

NinjaTurtle: ???

FoxyLady: so ladybug came by and asked me to delete lila's interview

NinjaTurtle: wut y?

FoxyLady: because apparently the two have only met a few times and one of them was her claiming to have the fox miraculous

NinjaTurtle: WHAT

FoxyLady: i let her lie to my face and then shared those lies with all of paris nino!

FoxyLady: i didn't even think to double check my sources

FoxyLady: shit

FoxyLady: oh god i am a hypocrite

NinjaTurtle: alya

FoxyLady: i called out marinette for accusing lila of lying and told her to check her sources

FoxyLady: but i didn't do that and lila got to lie to paris because of me!

FoxyLady: i fucked over my best friend for a girl who lied to everyone and gave her a platform

FoxyLady: can i even call myself a journalist when i published blatant lies to my blog and discredit my own friend for questioning them?

FoxyLady: im not just a shitty journalist im a shitty friend

NinjaTurtle: ALYA

NinjaTurtle: please slow down

NinjaTurtle: do u want me to call you?

FoxyLady: yes

* * *

"I just...I thought I was doing good. I thought I was a good journalist, that I was spreading the truth. But how many times have I let lies slip by? How many times have I told Paris something without even thinking to check if it was true? And then to be so hypocritical to Marinette for questioning it? Marinette has worked with Jagged Stone! She of all people would know Lila was lying. And then to just say she was doing it out of...out of jealousy. ...God, what is wrong with me? Why did I hold her to a standard I couldn't even hold myself to?"

"Alya...you're fourteen years old. No one expects you to be a perfect journalist."

"But they do, Nino! My blog is used as a source for news outlets across Paris! My stupid childish blog I started because I thought this was like a comic book! But it's not and I thought I learned my lesson but clearly I haven't. All I've done was give a liar a platform and betray my best friend."

"Alya...it's not your fault. All of us fucked up, okay? I've...I've known Marinette practically all my life, and I still dismissed her concerns about Lila. Marinette has always hated liars, and she has never been one. I should have listened to her, heard her out."

"Nino, it's not your fault."

"It's just as much mine as it is your's."

"..."

"Alya...we're just kids. We can't be perfect all the time. So what if you have a famous blog or if we occasionally turn into super-furries? We are supposed to fuck up and now we are supposed to figure out what to do to fix it."

"...Heh...I think you're more of a super-scalie."

"...Why do you know that?"

"You wouldn't believe how many people called you that once you came into the fray."

"Fuck...look, you screwed up. What now?"

"...I delete the interview."

"Good start, babe. What do you do next?"

"...I write a formal apology on my blog, for spreading misinformation."

"And then?"

"Apologize to Marinette."

"And then..."

"...Be more critical of what complete strangers tell me?"

"I was thinking mostly of Lila there but right on!"

"What about you? What are you going to do?"

"Apologize to Marinette, and then do the bro thing and let Adrien in on what the octopus clinging to him is up to."

"Apt description, turtle soup."

"...Babe...why..."

"Shush, you know I love you."

"Love you too, Alya. You going to be okay?"

"Yeah, I think I will be. You up for proofreading my apology before I publish it?"

"I'd be glad to, but I think you should let Marinette do it too."

"...Yeah, that's a good idea."

* * *

Nino flopped on his bed, staring at the ceiling.

Fuck.

He had kept himself calm for Alya, since her freak out seemed a lot more intense than his and he wouldn't like for her to get akumatized a third time, but now that she was okay he couldn't really hold back how...angry he was.

At Lila, but also at himself.

Lila lied to them all, turning them against Marinette, but Nino fell for it, hook line and sinker.

He had grown up with Marinette, and yet some girl he barely knew came in and spun a bunch of fantastical lies and that was enough to turn him against her and convince himself she was in the wrong. Not only that, but he _chose_ to take Marinette's seat instead of moving to the back like he should have done. He made her out to be the bad guy when all the seating arrangement needed was for him to move and instead he took advantage of Marinette being late to steal her seat and force her to the back alone. He wasn't any better than Lila in this situation, because it was him who forced Marinette into the situation out of a selfish desire to spend more time with someone he spent enough time with already.

(He refused to blame Alya for it. She may have offered but he could have easily refused, and she was upset enough about her part in the other bullshit. He wasn't going to make her feel worse, not when he was to blame for a good deal of it.)

Lila may have played her part in the mess, but it was Nino's choice that alienated Marinette from the rest of the class, made her look like a bully for simply not understanding why no one had considered how she felt.

Over and over Marinette had put her own feelings aside for others. But he had been so willing to throw her under the bus, and not once had he considered she had feelings that could be hurt by doing this, that just because she did nice things to her own detriment didn't mean she was happy getting punished for what other people wanted.

"Goddammit," he forced through clenched teeth, furious with himself.

And that wasn't the only thing he did wrong. He did nothing when Adrien was clearly uncomfortable being clung to, just assuming he'd be fine. He was all too happy to spend time with his girlfriend and ignore his other two friends when they were suffering. When had he become so selfish? When had he become so uncaring to anyone other than himself or Alya?

How was he going to make up for the shit he had pulled?

...He could start with apologizing. To both of them. And he could stop placing Alya before them. Just because she was his girlfriend didn't mean that he could ignore his bro or his childhood friend. They were just as important as her, and he had done a shitty job of showing it. A very shitty job. An exceptionally shitty job. Yeah, he owed them a bit more of an apology. They deserved something closer to a complete overhaul in his priorities, because he loved his girlfriend but he also loved his friends and needed to be better about proving it.

Nino took a deep breath, before releasing it slowly. He didn't want to be akumatized again, and it was time to focus less on his anger and more on how to fix his mess.

Maybe he'd do something nice for the two of them, to make up for being a selfish dick.

Yeah...that sounded much better than Hulking out.

"Screw you, Hawkmoth," he muttered, sitting up and grabbing his laptop.

He had work to do.


	3. Max

Max was terrible at maintaining a proper sleep schedule.

It was a bit annoying that Kim was the one who had to lecture him on that, that Kim had to remind him that lack of sleep could literally kill him at a certain point and "seriously man go the fuck to sleep!"

But he couldn't go to sleep. No, he couldn't go to sleep because he was analyzing security footage taken from school and doing calculations, and all of them resulted in answers that led to one conclusion.

The napkin that Marinette threw couldn't have hit him in the eye in the first place, and even if it had, it would not have led to the damage Lila had implied it would cause with anecdotal evidence.

The story was a lie.

And even with a sprained wrist, the soft napkin ball striking her hand wouldn't have caused Lila any sort of significant pain, not unless Marinette was throwing it at speeds Max doubted even the resident heroes could achieve.

If Lila could lie about something so insignificant, then...

He began doing research. He googled Lila Rossi, googled ever variation or misspelling of her name, googled her name in association with every notable figure she had claimed connections with.

Nothing.

It wasn't definitive proof, but even that he knew how to get. All he had to do was...

No...just the idea was...uncomfortable. It would be bad enough asking Rose to check with Prince Ali, but...

To ask Marinette to confirm with Jagged Stone that he wasn't associated with Lila Rossi after she had basically told everyone that Lila wasn't trustworthy and he hadn't believed her...he couldn't do it. He couldn't admit that he was too caught up in the emotional aspects of the accusations flying to see the logic, and he was supposed to be smart. He had taken Lila's anecdotal evidence as gravely serious instead of looking at the actual facts and _he was supposed to be smart_.

Marinette had always been better at him. From simple things like video games to being a good person. Nothing provided more evidence of this fact than his inability to see logic when Lila had made her out to be the villain when he knew from experience that Marinette put others before herself. He only got to compete in the Ultimate Mecha Strike tournament because she gave up her position to him (and she was fortunate that Adrien was just as kind), and past observation proved she would always attempt to act in the best interest of others, and yet he completely fell for the attempt to ruin her reputation.

Max was supposed to be smart. He was supposed to recognize fallacies and falsehoods and yet he had let Lila get away with it. They all had let Lila get away with it. And he could forgive most of them because they weren't supposed to always know like he was.

This was worse than when he encouraged the events that led to Kim's akumatization. Love wasn't something that could be calculated, and neither was Chloé's selfishness. Max could be forgiven for being wrong there. But Lila had blatantly made a claim that went against _basic fucking physics_ and he hadn't even questioned it until now. He could be forgiven for his calculations being wrong when accounting for emotions and people but he had trusted a person he barely knew over his longtime classmate and _actual science_.

Lila was like a climate change denier or a person who thought vaccines caused children to be autistic and Max fell prey to her fallacies.

What was he supposed to do now?

...The only thing he could do, really.

Without a second thought, he picked up his phone and called Kim.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is so short. I'm not as familar with writing Max or the other classmates, so this will be an experience.
> 
> Anyway, I imagine Max having an existential crisis over the fact that he trusted a random girl over _basic fucking physics_. Also he does seem to have a bit of an issue with pride and I wanted to get that across with how he can't bring himself to ask Marinette and admit he fucked up to her yet. I hope that this chapter wasn't a flop or anything.


	4. Kim

"...Hello?"

"Good, you picked up. I need to talk to you."

"...It's three in the morning. Have you even slept yet?"

"Irrelevant. I looked at the data from a few days ago, observing the speed and weight of the projectile and running tests, and all the tests point to the napkin ball being unable to cause the damage Lila implied they would. The arc needed to even reach my face wasn't there and a soft napkin wouldn't have done more than maybe scratch my cornea, not even mentioning her claims that it hitting her caused her pain..."

"...Max. My man. My dude."

"What?"

"Marinette couldn't have hit your eye because you wear glasses. You literally could have disputed that in seconds instead of literal hours."

"..."

"Alright man, you know it's time to go to sleep when you start overthinking this much."

"But Kim, Lila has not appeared in any publications despite her close relations with significant celebrities, and on top of her blatant disregard of physics-"

"-and the fact that you wear glasses-"

"-I am forced to conclude that Marinette was correct about her."

"...And what about this couldn't wait until morning?"

"Kim, this is serious!"

"Yeah dude, but Lila is still gonna be lying her ass off in the morning, and I'm hoping you aren't going to try and apologize this late at night."

"..."

"Max..."

"I...I am not certain how I will do that."

"Max, if I can admit that I would totally die if a big cat chased me, you can admit to literally the nicest person in our class that you made a mistake."

"You didn't admit that, you simply ran screaming from the akuma caused by claiming you could outrun one."

"Semantics."

"Do you even know what the word means or are you just saying that?"

"Not the point. Look, Marinette is a nice person. Sometimes too nice. She'll forgive you, so trash your pride for a bit and just tell her you're sorry."

"Words are utterly meaningless without facts to prove them true. Lila has given us evidence of this. If I apologize then it is no guarantee that I'll succeed at knowing next time. I need to do something that proves it rather than just using meaningless sentiment."

"So what are you going to do then?"

"...I could equip Markov with a lie detector..."

"Aaaaaand I think it's time for you to go to sleep man."

"I have to prepare, Kim."

"Lila will still be a jerk in the morning but your nerd brain won't be able to see through it as well if you are half asleep. Now turn off your phone and your computer and go to bed."

"...I suppose you are right. Sorry for bothering you."

"It's fine, man. I'm glad you told me what was going on. Now go the fuck to sleep."

* * *

Well this was shit.

Kim knew he sometimes got caught up in bravado and overconfidence and that led to him embarrassing himself more often than not (and getting attacked by akumas was often a result of that), but honestly this was probably about as shitty as when he was a dick to Ivan and literally started this whole mess.

(And technically that wasn't true, as Max had told him repeatedly. It was Hawkmoth who started the whole mess, and Hawkmoth would have started it with or without Kim's insulting note to Ivan, but it didn't change the fact that Kim had a role in it happening.)

Whatever Lila's game was, Kim had played into it. And not just him. Everyone, even Max, had fallen for it. Damn, even Alya had, and wasn't she Marinette's best friend? 

This was fucked up. This was super fucked up.

He was fucking exhausted (thanks Max) as he pulled out his phone again and sent a quick text to Alix, before putting it on silent and falling asleep.

He'd do something about it in the morning, when both he and Max could actually think.


	5. Alix

" _ALL AROUND THE WORLD STATUES CRUMBLE FOR ME!"_

Alix lifted her head, eyes half open and vision blurred as she mumbled curses under her breath and grabbed her phone. The light of her screen caused her to wince, and she mumbled more curses because what the fuck was worth texting her this early in the morning on a fucking weekend!

She messed up unlocking her phone twice before finally getting it on the third try and opening the text message from...ugh, Kim. Was it another stupid dare?

_Bitch: lila's a jerk and max stayed up all night to prove that she lied about the napkin thing and googled her and stuff only to come up with nothing. if u murder her i was not involved_

Alix stared at her screen for a good minute before grumbling, "I'm too tired for this." She closed her screen and buried her phone under her pillows, and soon was snoring again.

She could be pissed in the morning.

* * *

Well, one thing that could be said for certain was that Alix was pissed in the morning when she reread the text message and did her own googling.

Unholy pissed.

Like pissed to the point that she was surprised an akuma didn't show up right in that moment.

Let's just say Lila instantly lost her luster in that moment, and Alix was totally up for taking Kim's accidental suggestion.

It was one thing to lie to her. Alix didn't care so much about that. She could deal with that, and yeah she'd rip that person a new one but she could see someday forgiving them. While she wasn't as historically oriented as her father or brother, she knew that events got muddled up because winners wrote their own narratives. A good deal of history was lies, and her dad and brother had to look at what was left behind to pick out what was closest to the truth. Not even Marinette, self proclaimed hater of liars, would be able to escape lying herself at some point. It was human nature. So Lila lying? Whatever. She could settle for telling her off.

But no. Lila didn't just tell lies.

She targeted Marinette with them. She tried to make Marinette look bad. And it had worked.

Alix wasn't particularly close to Marinette. She never had been. She was always more of a loner than anything, occassionally third wheeling Kim and Max's whole deal and having a decent friendship with Nathaniel that wasn't even particularly close. Marinette's personality had never meshed much with Alix's, so the two didn't really hang out more than necessary. But even then, Marinette had always been...nice...reliable. She always appreciated it when Marinette shared free food from the bakery and whenever anyone had a rough day Marinette was good about talking it out and presenting solutions. And then with Alya showing up and her sudden boost of confidence, Marinette had become a force to be reckoned with, yet somehow without sacrificing just being a good person.

Marinette was a good person, through and through. And yet, Lila had managed to spin an entirely new narrative in hours where Marinette was the cruel, rude bully and she was the innocent victim, and Alix fell for it. She fucking fell for it, and that wasn't on Lila, that was on her, but Lila was the one who targeted Marinette, who chose to turn the class against her for being skeptical, who changed the narrative in a way that explicitly turned her into something she wasn't and yet they all believed it. And Alix could understand lying for gain or lying for self preservation, but Marinette didn't deserve that shit and she wouldn't just sit by as Lila tore the only decent judge of character out of the bunch into shreds.

How much shit had Marinette put herself through for their sakes? She was a disaster enough but she did more than she ever had to for them and they turned on her the moment a complete stranger let out some crocodile tears.

Well not anymore. Alix probably wouldn't actually murder Lila ( _probably_ ), but she'd make her regret the day she fucked with their class representative.

Alix wasn't a hero and this whole ordeal proved that her status as a good person was questionable, but she owed more to Marinette than just a lazy attempt to help with her crazy matchmaking schemes.


	6. Nathaniel

Alix: if i were to set lila on fire would you be my alibi

DisasterBi: im guessing you figured it out?

Alix: kim texted me about it after max found out and i did some google searches to confirm

Alix: what about you?

DisasterBi: marc and i realized we probably would have heard of her before if she was all that famous and some research proved it

Alix: so anyway i am trying to figure out the best way to set her on fire

DisasterBi: alix no

Alix: alix yes!

DisasterBi: physically attacking her is just going to get you arrested and possibly targeted by her or her family when they get akumatized

Alix: yes but also

Alix: ladybug would probably fix me after defeating the akuma 

Alix: and she messed with marinette of all people

DisasterBi: yeah i know

Alix: she convinced us all marinette was a jerk even though we should have known better!

DisasterBi: yeah i know Alix

DisasterBi: that doesn't mean you should set her on fire

DisasterBi: we have to be smart about this

DisasterBi: how did you plan on setting her on fire anyway?

Alix: dump melted butter on her, light match, pretend to be helping her by dumping water on her

DisasterBi: jesus christ

Alix: yeah im pissed

Alix: what is your plan?

DisasterBi: i dont know

DisasterBi: on one hand i feel like shit at the idea of not doing anything

DisasterBi: on the other hand i dont know how to help

DisasterBi: i dont do good when people are ganged up against me and lila has the majority of the class on her side

Alix: dude you wouldnt be alone

Alix: kim max and i all know too

Alix: we arent just going to let her or the others attack you

DisasterBi: i still dont know if i can

Alix: then dont

Alix: you're a comic book artist right?

Alix: you could do a comic that exposes her

DisasterBi: that

DisasterBi: is clever and less murderous than I expected from you?

Alix: thanks

Alix: ill handle the murder yoi make sure everyone knows she deserves it

DisasterBi: wait i cant

DisasterBi: everyone is going to assume im just doing this because i still have a crush on marinette

Alix: when in actuality you are super bi and would totally up for dating marc?

DisasterBi: ...

DisasterBi: yeah

Alix: chill man you dont have to prove to anyone that you have or don't have the feelings yoy have

DisasterBi: yeah but my past crush on marinette might discredit me and what im doing

DisasterBi: and lila would totally encourage that if it keeps her from being exposed

Alix: since thats the reason shes attacking marinette in the first place

Alix: well fuck man

DisasterBi: what are we supposed to do then?

DisasterBi: i dont like sitting around and letting marinette take it

DisasterBi: but there is no guarantee we could actually do anything

Alix: ...catch her in the act of doing something rotten?

DisasterBi: i guess

DisasterBi: it feels an awful lot like just waiting

Alix: yeah but what choice do we have?

DisasterBi: ...

Alix: look i would totally kill her bit im not actually as willing to go to prison as i claim to be

Alix: and i am absolutely not up for sitting on the sidelines while all this shit happens

Alix: but lila is a devious bitch and talking with kim and max it looks like they are just taking the wait and see approach

DisasterBi: dang how long did it take max to convince kim to go with that?

Alix: probably hours

DisasterBi: yeah probably.

DisasterBi: can we at least tell marinette that we are on her side and apologize?

Alix: fuck yeah lets do that

DisasterBi: good

DisasterBi: btw considering your eagerness to murder i doodled you a new contact picture

DisasterBi: acewithmace.jpeg

Alix: that is the best drawing of me ive ever seen in my life

* * *

Nathaniel should have been working on the comic book.

Instead though, his mind was wandering, and not to great places.

He had never been a particularly strong person. He crumbled under pressure and just went silent. If Lila managed to turn the class against him, he would probably die instantaneously to the shock of absolutely no one, because he lived by not drawing too much attention to himself and there was no situation where him exposing Lila didn't get negative attention on him, not when she was believed by the entirety of the class even over Marinette.

He felt a touch nauseous. Nathaniel didn't have a crush on her anymore, but he still cared about her and didn't like how she was being treated, and he never really made up for putting her in danger when he was akumatized. He wanted to do something...but he had nothing.

He needed to figure this out, and that meant he needed to observe. Nathaniel people-watched a lot, and maybe if he took some time to observe, he could figure out what he needed to take her down.

But first, he had something to do.

He found Marinette's contact in his phone, took a deep breath, and pressed the call button.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The picture Nathaniel drew was Alix on her rollerskates, holding a mace, shouting, "Come out and fight me, bitch!" Alix naturally adores it. I'd draw it if I had any art talent.
> 
> Also finals are this week so I'll be slowing down updates.


	7. Rose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Juleka's here also.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will dedicate a chapter to Juleka, don't worry. I just can easily see her here for this.

"Ali! How are you? Oh, you remember Juleka, right?"

"Hi."

_"It's a pleasure to finally meet you! Rose has told me so much about you."_

"Really?"

_"Yes! She talks about you very frequently! She texted me a while back saying-"_

"Anyway, how come you were so eager to call? You texted me asking to open Skype as soon as possible?"

_"Oh, right! I heard about what happened in Paris a few weeks ago, and I had been meaning to check in with you, but I was being run ragged with work. Are the two of you alright?"_

"Yeah, all thanks to Paris' heroes! There's actually five of them now! Can you believe it?"

_"Yes, I also heard about that! It must be terrifying to live in Paris full time, but also exciting!"_

"You get used to it."

"Oh, a friend of yours joined our class recently!"

_"Really? Who is it?"_

"Lila Rossi! She told us about how she and her family stayed at your castle for a while!"

_"...Who?"_

"..."

_"I...I don't believe I know anyone with the last name Rossi."_

"...Oh."

_"Rose, are you okay? You look upset. It's fine if you believed her! I have people namedrop me often, and it never causes any harm."_

"...Maybe not for you."

_"...I suppose you are right, Juleka. Rose, do you wish for me to straighten this out in any way? It would be no trouble, and I would be glad to help if what she is doing is causing a problem."_

"...No, it's okay. It was my mistake. I'll fix it. But...thanks Ali."

_"If you are sure. But you can always contact me if you need assistance with it. My public relations manager will handle it if I am too busy to, but I'll do my best to handle it personally for my friends."_

"Thanks."

_"And Juleka, I would love to be friends with you too if you are willing?"_

"...Yeah, that'd be cool. Thanks."

_"You are welcome!"_

* * *

Juleka was one of the few people Rose was fine crying in front of. Which wasn't fun, considering Rose cried pretty easily. She didn't know how she managed to hold it in until Ali had to go and Juleka left for home, but the tears didn't spring up until she was finally alone in her room.

She wasn't sad though.

She was _furious_.

How had it never occurred to her that Lila might be lying, that some people would use her friend's name for attention? How had it never occurred to her to check with Ali, even if all was was a simple text, to ask him about a classmate's family staying in his castle? How had it never occurred to her that Lila was lying to her face, and that Marinette had a point?

She opened up her notebook and began to scribble. Writing and drawing had become a decent outlet for when she felt awful, and after getting akumatized a second time she began to fill her notebook with all her negative thoughts. She didn't want to become Princess Fragrance or any other supervillain ever again, and so she wrote everything down, drew all her nightmares and fears until they stopped looking so terrifying, scribbling fast and frantically on the pages when she was angry as a silent way of venting.

Eventually the lead of her pencil broke, and she was left with a page that was covered in furious lines, sharp and angry.

She took a deep breath, and began to hum a song she had heard Juleka sing before, the melody sticking but the lyrics out of reach. It was soft and gentle and sorrowful and Rose loved it, and she hummed until she could finally think without attacking herself with insults at how stupid she had been.

She had never been close friends with a celebrity before, and she had the tendency to be trusting, and that combined to her assuming the outlandish claims were true. After all, she became friends with Ali, so why wouldn't Lila have been able to do it? It was her fault for not once thinking about the possibility of namedropping, for blindly accepting that this girl Ali had never mentioned before really was close enough to him to be invited to stay in his castle. But Juleka would tell her that didn't give her the right to beat herself up over it.

Being nice to everyone meant being nice to yourself too.

So...what would she do now?

She had a direct source to someone who could disprove Lila's lies immediately, but with Hawkmoth around...Lila would be akumatized the moment she was exposed. And Rose wouldn't want to intentionally put someone through that after going through it twice herself.

Then again...if she just let Lila continue...she would probably keep throwing Marinette under the bus, which would get Marinette akumatized after a while. Not to mention that Marinette would lose more than just akuma-free streak if Lila kept going without restraint. She'd lose her reputation and she might lose her friends. The rest of the class could completely turn against her if Lila got her way. They might eventually figure it out themselves, but at that point...Marinette didn't deserve that.

Do something and Lila would be humiliated, shunned, and akumatized. Do nothing and Marinette would be treated like a villain, shunned, and akumatized. It was a gamble no matter what she did, and Rose didn't want to hurt Lila. She wanted to convince Lila to stop, to get her to see what she was doing was mean. But Chloé hadn't been able to figure that out for years and Rose being kind had done nothing. There was the possibility that Lila would be like that, or worse.

The only thing she could do that had a chance of really working was...

Oh...

She had an idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, I think the only reason Rose is even semi-justified with falling for it is because she is a trusting person (think Timebreaker where she went to help a supposedly downed akuma calling out for help even after seeing the damage she caused). Though that really depends on if she even kept in contact with him after that (which I chose yes because screw you canon).
> 
> I'm done with finals and I passed all my classes! Now I'm going to keep working on this!
> 
> I have a pretty good idea of how the rest of this story will go. I could give details, but that would be spoilers. I hope you guys enjoy the future chapters though. If I'm lucky, I'll hopefully be done by the end of winter break (sooner if I'm really on top of everything).


	8. Juleka

Juleka had covered her wall in pictures once the photo curse had ended.

There were the pictures from the picture day she became Reflekta, but there were also pictures from her class, random candids and smiling selfies and dramatic and silly poses. Rose was in many of them, excited to finally get to take so many unobstructed photos with her, and Marinette had been a source of many of them, but all the people in her class had contributed. She even had one from Chloé, oddly enough.

(It was from the Heroes' Day picnic. Chloé had walked up to her and Rose, pulled her into a selfie, then texted it to her, saying, "You didn't get a picture with me on picture day, so I'm fixing that." Juleka had stood there for a moment, confused, before realizing that was probably the closest thing she was getting to an apology.

Juleka had debated for days before printing and thumbtacking the photo to her wall. She would remove it if Chloé went back to being a rotton person, but at this point it was a promise that Chloé was trying. She'd pull an actual apology out of her someday, but for now she'd accept a photo.)

To the unobservant eye someone might say she was narcissistic, but the pictures were just there as a reminder that these people cared enough to send them to her, to include her, to be her friend.

It was nice.

Of course, she wouldn't have any of them if it hadn't been for Marinette.

That should have mattered to her more than everything that Lila had said. Juleka knew Marinette, knew she was the kind of person to do good things for others even when she got nothing in return, that sometimes she could be jealous but she never tried to purposefully hurt anybody, that she dedicated time and effort to the happiness of others.

And had it mattered?

It should have, but Juleka had been stupid and decided it didn't without even thinking. If Rose believed Lila, then clearly there had to be truth to what she was saying.

But Rose was trusting and kind and Juleka didn't find them to be faults, but she never would have considered Lila was lying, and so Juleka should have considered. She should have suggested checking with Ali, but she had assumed Rose would know. She and Rose had both assumed and Lila had taken advantage of that to pull them along and convince them that Marinette was the jerk, that she was being selfish and jealous.

Juleka wouldn't fault Rose for not checking, but even knowing how kind Marinette was and how trusting Rose was, she had still fallen for it.

She looked at all the pictures, looked at her smiling and happy with all her friends, and felt sick to her stomach.

Marinette had done so many good things, and all Juleka done in return was help with a picnic she would have benefitted from anyway and allow Lila to get away with her lies. And that wasn't enough. It would never be enough.

She pulled out a piece of paper and began to work.

It would never be enough, but at least it would be something.

_Dear Marinette,_

_I'm sorry for not believing you. Thank you for everything you've done for us._

Then, underneath the note, she began to draw. It took a while, but using the photo for reference, she managed to decently replicate herself, Rose, and Marinette onto the page, posed like in the photo of them that had been taken on picture day. Once she finished, she folded the paper carefully and slipped it into an envelope, sealing it just as she received a text.

She glanced at her phone and her eyebrows raised.

_SweetBriar: i've got a plan but i need your help_


	9. Mylène

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was entirely typed on my phone because my computer keyboard doesn't do accents.
> 
> Also I agreed not to watch Voltron without my siblings and I already had one big thing spoiled so I'm suffering right now.

Mylène was a weak person.

She had known it since she first became classmates with Chloé, when she caused Ivan to be akumatized again out of fear, when she became akumatized herself. She had always caved to the pressure of others, always been scared of everything bigger than her, always been easily manipulated by people who knew how to screw with others. 

Mylène was a weak person, and it was not surprising to learn that she had been tricked into turning against one of the strongest people in her class, that she had gleefully tossed Marinette to the side out of infatuation for Lila's lies.

Stupid.

Weak.

Awful.

A butterfly phased through her window and she bolted down the stairs and out the door.

Not today, Satan.

* * *

She ran all the way to the park, far away from her house before her lungs and legs hurt too much to keep running. Adrenaline was a hell of a drug and that was probably the only reason she made it that far.

She needed to breathe and think of a solution and calm down because she refused to be akumatized again.

Flopping down on a bench, Mylène stared at the cloudy sky and did her best to think of something.

She had screwed up. That was pretty obvious. She had done so before, when Ivan was akumatized again because of her being spooked by his song confessing to her, but it was Ivan who had fixed things, Ivan who had forgiven her for it. This time, it was Myleme who needed to do something about it, and she was stumped.

She had already agreed to help, but she wanted to do more, something that was just her. Marinette was her friend and she hadn't defended her when she was accused of letting her jealousy get in the way, when she was accused of trying to hurt Max, when she was treated like dirt for questioning Lila, when she was shoved to the back of the class without even being talked to first. Mylène owed her a lot already, and now she also owed her an apology on top of that.

What could she do? She wasn't talented or brave or smart. She couldn't tell Lila off or create something or come up with a brilliant way to show her remorse. All she had was some acting abilities.

How could acting be used to fix things? It's not like she could do a skit on how sorry she was.

All she could really do was just...say she was sorry, and hope Marinette accepted it. That's all she could really do on her own.

And look, there was the Dupain-Cheng bakery, right there.

All she had to do...

She pulled out her phone and called Ivan.

" _Hello?_ "

"I need your help."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With all the bad feelings going around, at some point someone had to feel bad enough to get nearly akumatized. Who needs happy thoughts when you can just outrun the stupid little butterfly?


	10. Ivan

"I need your help."

"Huh? What's wrong?"

"Did Rose text you?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm in the park near the bakery. I want to go apologize to Marinette but..."

"But?"

"What if she hates me?! I knew she wasn't the kind of person to try and hurt others, not even out of jealousy, but I didn't say anything! I was such a jerk to her and I don't know hpw to fix it!"

"She's not going to hate you, Mylène."

"She should! I was so awful to her!"

"It wasn't your fault. It was Lila who convinced everyone to listen to her. All of us fell for it."

"...I just...I wish I was strong enough to do something, but I can't even apologize without getting scared."

"It's alright to be scared, Mylène. All of us get scared. Even Marinette. Even me."

"But Marinette is brave enough to stand up to others. Marinette is brave enough to stand up _for_ others. She's stood up for me enough, and yet I couldn't do anything for her. And how can I just expect her to forgive me for treating her like that."

"Mylène...you are strong. You can be strong. And even if she doesn't forgive you, you will have at least been strong enough to tell her you're sorry, and to show you won't fall for it again. You don't have to tell off Lila or do some big gesture. You don't have to do anything. All you have to do is tell her you'll do better. You can do it."

"...Okay...thank you Ivan."

"...Hey, wait for me? I'll come with you to apologize. I should do that too."

"Alright. Meet you in front of the bakery?"

"You got it."

"Alright..."

"And Mylène?"

"Hm?"

"Love you."

"...Love you too..."

* * *

It wasn't too long of a walk to the bakery, but it was long enough for Ivan to have time to think.

He really had let Marinette down, even after how nice she had been while everyone had been afraid of him. Evan after she had promised to try and help Mylène and did her best to keep her from losing her part in the class movie. Even after all the times she had risked herself to do the right thing and made the effort to do things for others with no benefit to herself. He had let her down.

He would tell off Lila in an instant if he thought it would do any good, but Marinette's attempts had blown up in her face and it was likely Lila would never learn by being told that she was lying and needed to cut that out. By some weird superhero magic Chloé had managed it, but it had never been from the numerous times she had been told she was a jerk and no one liked her.

He really hoped Rose's plan would work. 

He was worried it wouldn't.

Ivan waved at Mylène once she was within eyesight, and she smiled and waved back as he approached.

"Um, Mrs. Cheng said Marinette was busy with school work but that we were welcome to come in and grab something. I just wanted to wait for you."

"Thanks," he said, smiling softly at her.

The two went in and sat at a table, waiting patiently until Marinette ran into the room, looking frazzled and a bit startled to see them.

"Hey, what's up?"


	11. Smart Phone Hour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rich set a-wait, wrong fandom.

Kim: u get the text from rose?

NerdAlert: Yes.

Kim: wut u think?

NerdAlert: I think it might work, all things considered. It might also help prevent a supervillain attack as long as it doesn't escalate.

Kim: cool so u in?

NerdAlert: Yes, I think I will participate.

Kim: cool

Kim: glad we can at least do something instead of waiting around

* * *

ModelMagic: hey alya?

ModelMagic: did you get the text from rose?

ModelMagic: alya please talk to me?

ModelMagic: alya

Alya: i don't know

Alya: i mean why should i talk to you when you couldn't even talk to me or nino

ModelMagic: alya im sorry

Alya: just save it adrien

Alya: it's already bad enough that we got fooled, but you did nothing

Alya: you didn't have to expose her publicly

Alya: you just could have done what rose did and just discreetly inform us without her knowing

Alya: but no

Alya: because whenever something isn't harming you then it can't be harming anyone, right?

Alya: get your head out of your ass

Adrien: alya please

Alya: next time maybe you shouldn't be so passive when people try to hurt you and your friends

Alya: next time you should trust me and nino with the knowledge that we are screwing up so we can fix things

Alya: next time actually do something instead of just deciding it will all blow over if you ignore it

Alya: you let us all down by leaving us ignorant just like we let marinette down for not listening to her

Alya: i hope you are proud of yourself

Adrien: I'm sorry.

Alya: you want to prove to me you are sorry?

Alya: then actually do something for once in your goddamn life

Adrien: ok

Alya: yes i did get the text from rose and i am going along with her plan

Alya: and you?

Adrien: i thought it was a good idea

Alya: glad we are on the same page

Alya: look adrien i consider you a friend but i'm sick of your moral authority bullshit

Alya: especially with people who mistreat others

Alya: stop it

Alya: it's not helping

Alya: and i'm not just talking about lila here

Adrien: i'm sorry

Alya: that's great

Alya: now prove it

* * *

Alix: how did apologizing to marinette go?

DisasterBi: surprisingly well

DisasterBi: it sounded like she was mostly relieved someone believed her

Alix: yeah i got the same vibe when i apologized

Alix: hey did rose text you?

DisasterBi: yeah i think she texted everyone

DisasterBi: i think its a good idea

Alix: i wish it was a bit more...

Alix: active

DisasterBi: it is a very rose plan

DisasterBi: if i didnt think she hit the nail on the head for lilas motivation i wouldnt go for it really

Alix: yeah yeah

Alix: ill do it but ill imagine setting her on fire the entire time

* * *

MyJuliet<3: ali has been sending me bongo cat memes

SweetBriar: he does that whenever he is in boring meetings!

SweetBriar: he really likes bongo cat because it's cute!

MyJuliet<3: huh

SweetBriar: he takes the being friends thing very seriously

MyJuliet<3: he doesn't have a lot?

SweetBriar: not really :'(

SweetBriar: but he thinks you're cool and wants to be friends!

SweetBriar: he told me so the other day

SweetBriar: i think he just wants to break the ice with memes

MyJuliet<3: well they are very cute and wholesome

SweetBriar: i know they are my favorite!!!

MyJuliet<3: i left my note for marinette in the bakery today

SweetBriar: that's really nice of you! I know she'll love it!

MyJuliet<3: have you told everyone the plan?

SweetBriar: most everyone!

MyJuliet<3: ?

SweetBriar: i don't think texting sabrina is a good idea. she seems attached to lila now and she might let her know

MyJuliet<3: what even happened there?

SweetBriar: idk i think lila is better at pretending to be nice than chloe?

MyJuliet<3: i've always felt really bad for sabrina

SweetBriar: me too

SweetBriar: i hope things get better for her

* * *

Michelangelo: apology.mp4

Bread: ...holy shit

Bread: nino you are absolutely forgiven you dont need to do all of this

Michelangelo: but i wanted to

Michelangelo: i was kind of rotten 2 u over the seat thing and ive been kind of shoving u and adrien aside for alya even tho u guys r my friends

Michelangelo: so if i do something shitty again 2 u or adrien then send me that and ill kno 2 stop™

Bread: if you are sure

Bread: but you're forgiven

Michelangelo: thx mari

Bread: a lot of the class has been apologizing this weekend did something happen?

Michelangelo: did rose text u?

Bread: yeah

Bread: it was really vague though

Bread: an apology and telling me that everything would be fine on monday

Michelangelo: guess i shouldnt spoil anything

Michelangelo: but rose probably filled in the rest of the class around the same time alya told me

Bread: huh

Bread: you said the apology was also for adrien?

Michelangelo: yeah lila was basically sexually harassing him and i did nothing so

Bread: oh yeah

Bread: that

Bread: does he even realize that he's allowed to ask her or chloe to stop?

Michelangelo: no

Michelangelo: no he does not

Michelangelo: and chloe doesnt latch onto him like that anymore at least since gaining a heart

Michelangelo: lila barely even knows him and has violated his boundaries significantly

Bread: gross

Bread: my mom wants to adopt adrien to feed him and teach him how to stand up for himself

Michelangelo: if it gets him away from mr agreste i am totally down for that

Michelangelo: pretty sure hes the reason

Bread: honestly i am not surprised

Bread: at this point the only positive contribution mr agreste has made to the world was his half of adrien's genes and his fashion

Michelangelo: i think the fashion thing is a stretch

Michelangelo: it all feels like different shades of white

Bread: you arent exactly wrong

Bread: gabriel as a brand is often minimalist in the clothing area with stand out accessories. The price is only justified for the quality of the material and craftsmanship and how well he understands what looks flattering. His accessories line is really the best of what he has out there due to them being more colorful and creative, and those are what really sells. The idea is you can recreate pretty much any look he has with cheaper clothing and buying one of his hats or bags or jewelry pieces. That's why the contest at our school was hats instead of tops or jackets or something

Michelangelo: ...

Michelangelo: sometimes u scare me mari

Bread: :)

* * *

Mylène: hey ivan

Mylène: im worried about monday

Ivan: rose's plan?

Mylène: what if it doesn't work?

Mylène: what if we make things worse?

Mylène: what if lila gets alumatized and goes after rose because it was her idea!!!

Ivan: itll be okay mylene

Ivan: none of us will sell out rose

Ivan: and if a supervillain goes after her then we will keep her safe like when marinette was the target

Mylène: i just

Mylène: i know we apologized and marinette forgave us but im scared we will screw it up again

Ivan: we wont

Ivan: because you are a good person who kmows better amd would never purposefully hurt someone

Mylène: ...

Mylène: thanks

Mylène: you are a good person too Ivan

Mylène: love you <3

Ivan: love you too <3

* * *

Adrikins: hey chloe did rose text you?

PrepareForTrouble: yes

Adrikins: ...

PrepareForTrouble: im doing it already

PrepareForTrouble: why even bother giving her ridiculous claims the time of day?

PrepareForTrouble: i knew she would dig her grave eventually

Adrikins: thanks chlo

PrepareForTrouble: yeah yeah just tell marinette that lila wont ruin her under my watch

PrepareForTrouble: thats my job

Adrikins: you're secretly soft

PrepareForTrouble: no! no i am not!

Adrikins: :)

PrepareForTrouble: i am not soft!

Adrikins: skeletor.jpg

PrepareForTrouble: screw you and your homoerotic eighties cartoons

Adrikins: i will get you to watch the she-ra reboot

PrepareForTrouble: never

* * *

Lila: sabrina i need your help with something

Sabrina: of course!

Lila: i think marinette has been saying mean things about me behind my back

Sabrina: oh no! how awful!

Lila: i know! i felt so bad i cried myself to sleep last night

Sabrina: that's terrible!

Sabrina: what do you need?

Lila: i need you to get something for me

* * *

Unsaved Number: screenshot.png

Unsaved Number: well if she wanted to ruin herself there was no better way to do it

Unsaved Number: keep me updated

Unsaved Number: you got it!

Delete all messages from this number?

Messages deleted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes for this chapter, in order:  
> * The names used before text is the person's contact name in the other's phone. For instance, Kim is just Kim in Max's phone, but Max is NerdAlert in Kim's.  
> * I couldn't figure out an extended conversation with Kim and Max so this is the best I've got  
> * This is not Adrien bashing. Alya is just pissed at him for not telling her and she will forgive him but this is all taking place over a weekend and she found out recently so she is still pissed. Plus she is annoyed about the way he got onto the class about bring happy Chloé was leaving when she had literally never done anything good for them and treated them like garbage and all that rolled together made for some not happy Alya.  
> * Adrien is not a bad kid (i don't think he would have even said ignoring lila was best if smhe knew about the treats she had made), but the show keeps presenting him as the moral authority for some fucking reason (he's fourteen let him fuck up when he isn't dressed in skintight leather) and realistically that wouldn't really work out.  
> * The name change from ModelMagic to Adrien was Alya changing his contact name. It was hard to be mad at him with such a stupid punny contact name  
> * Hints about Rose's plan continue  
> * Alix is still pissed  
> * Excuse me I just had to do the shippy stuff for Juleka's contact name in Rose's phone.  
> * Rose knows how Romeo and Juliet ends. In this universe, she wrote a new ending to it after she first read it, giving the two a happy ending. Juleka proofread Rose's amateur Shakespeare fanfiction and that's when Rose's crush started.  
> * SweetBriar is based on the actual plant, part of the genus Rosa and with a color scheme that matches Rose's.  
> * Prince Ali is a boy with a hectic life and very few friends due to traveling often and his position. Rose is really sweet and considerate so as his first real long distance friend to last for a decent amount of time. He really wants Juleka to like him so he can have more friends, plus Rose has gushed about her often.  
> * Nino doesn't know Marinette's contact name for him, otherwise he would realize that Marinette knows he's Carapace due to the TMNT reference  
> * Nino chose her name as a joke when he first got his phone and hasn't changed it since. It really confuses his family when a notification on his phone shows that Bread texted him.  
> * Nino wrote an entire song, making the instrumental on his computer and recording the lyrics, and gave both Adrien and Marinette copies. It is simultaneously an apology and something they can send him to immediately tell him that he fucked up. Adrien will probably mever use it but Marinette will in extre situations  
> * Mylène and Ivan are very sweet to each other and I love them  
> * Adrien and Chloé friendship when she isn't being shitty and/or pursuing him romantically.  
> * Adrien has sent Chloé the shitty He-Man version of What's Up so many times that she refuses to watch the show or She-Ra with him because of that.  
> * Oh dang what's Lila up to?  
> * Ooh mysterious.
> 
> Next chapter will be eventually. I dunno my update schedule is weird.
> 
>  **EDIT:** I forgot to mention. Sabrina's contact name in Adrien's phone is MakeItDouble.Yes it is the _exact_ reference you think it is.


	12. Sabrina

Sabrina was used to doing two times the required homework.

She didn't...she never enjoyed it, but poor Lila and her migraines from staring too long. So she did the homework with a smile on her face and enough different for the teachers to never suspect.

She was an expert at this point.

She was just finishing up when she received the text from Lila, making a very specific request, and smiled brightly before confirming that she would and heading out the door.

She ended up staking out the bakery from a bench in the park, waiting until she saw Marinette leave with a bag indicating she'd be gone for a while before heading inside herself.

"Oh, Sabrina? What brings you here?"

Sabrina gave a sheepish smile. "Oh, I was looking in my room for my hat before realizing I left it here back when I was doing a group project with Marinette."

"Oh." Sabine looked apologetic. "I suppose you can run upstairs and grab it if you need to, but please be quick."

"Of course Ms. Cheng!"

Sabrina hurried up the stairs and into Marinette's room, carefully tucking the payload into her bag before rushing down again, thanking the Dupain-Chengs quickly before making her way out the door.

She had completed the task Lila had requested of her, meaning that all she had to do was provide an update.

This was a step in the right direction.

* * *

Sabrina: i won't be able to bring it until lunch tomorrow

Lila: seriously? that gives her plenty of time to continue to backstab me!

Lila: do you even care how awful she's being?

Sabrina: i care! my dad would be suspicious if he noticed i had it and so i don't want to risk moving it until he is busy

Lila: ugh fine.

Lila: only because im such a good friend

Sabrina: so much better than chloé!

Lila: and don't you forget about it

* * *

Lila was different from Chloé. With Chloé, she was demanded to do everything, while Lila seemed so pitiful that Sabrina moved to help her. She couldn't do homework without getting migraines, she couldn't carry her bags because her wrists were weak, she couldn't do many things because of her various physical ailments. Poor helpless Lila, unable to do anything without causing herself pain or injury.

Sabrina found herself doing everything with a smile on her face, not complaining once. Lila had a bit of a temper when things weren't done right enough, so Sabrina had plenty of work cut out for her, becoming Lila's best friend. There was a lot more homework to make up for what Lila had missed while away, and she had to dig up and make copies of all her past notes as well. But at least it was all for a good cause, so she did it all.

Once she was done, Sabrina leaned back and sighed.

Totally better than Chloé.

Then her phone buzzed.

_Unsaved Number: did you get it?_

Sabrina smirked, taking a quick picture of the payload and sending it. There was a brief moment before she received another text.

_Unsaved Number: good work_

_Unsaved Number: i'll smooth things over once everything is done and make sure everyone knows she put you up to it_

Sabrina texted a quick thanks and assumed the text messages to be done, about to delete them when another one popped up.

_Unsaved Number: that doesn mean i'm soft though!_

Sabrina smirked, texting a quick response before deleting all of the messages. Best no one be able to see the conversations she had, the ones that would give it all away.

Since she was little, Sabrina had followed Chloé's whims, but the past year had been different. And Lila's arrival was a shocking reminder of the power Chloé had used to wield without mercy, but instead of the adults it was their classmates. It was dangerous to have such a powerful person, someone who managed to turn the class darling into a pariah with a few words and actions, and Chloé hadn't needed to say a word before Sabrina deleted Chloé's contact from her phone and abandoned her for Lila.

Lila, who for a deceptive person never seemed at all suspicious by Sabrina's sudden subservience as she took full advantage of it, was a good liar, but what she lacked was restraint. She went for the big lies constantly, unable to provide any build. Instead of a web of lies, her deception was an unstable house of cards, which could easily be knocked over.

All it took was a single move.

_Unsaved Number: sure chloé_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To those who guessed, congrats! The early drafts of this story always had Sabrina secretly working with Chloé to take down Lila from the inside.


	13. Chloé

Chloé hated having to do her own homework.

Still, she continued to work with a grimace on her face, knowing that she couldn't survive the dip in grades from not doing it at all and even when Sabrina was no longer undercover it wouldn't be very, ugh, heroic of her to foist that responsibility on someone else again...ugh...

Adrien had been great about helping her with science, as great as someone could be without just giving her the answers. He would probably make a good science teacher if he ever decided to quit modeling to pursue that. He also seemed more excited to actually spend time with her now than he had since coming to school in the first place.

It was weird. The less she fought for his attention, the more he was willing to give it.

She wished her mom was like that. Maybe then she wouldn't have fucked herself over as a superhero right out of the gate.

It was weird how things were different. She had been so protective of her claim to Adrien. He was her friend and her crush and how dare Nino and Marinette try and take him from her, but now that she had stopped attacking that or trying to lay her claim on Adrien it was clear that the only barrier to their friendship wasn't her classmates, but her.

She didn't like being self aware; it wasn't fun.

It also occurred to her that Adrien was not happy with Lila around. As much as he pretended everything was fine, Chloé knew him, and the general consensus was that Adrien was never fine, but with Lila hanging off of him like a sloth and continually treating him as some object he was considerably less fine.

Then there was Marinette. Chloé was...undecided about her. There were years of hatred to get over there, but Marinette had made various attempts to make her feel better and support her after the trainwreck of her mother's arrival in Paris occurred. And there was also the fact that she, along with Nino, had clearly been a big part in Adrien being happy again after Mrs. Agreste disappeared and Mr. Agreste became a giant asshole. So it was hard to hate her as vehemently as she had before, even if Chloé couldn't bring herself to like her.

Not to mention that it was outright disconcerting, how Lila had managed to turn the entire class against her when everyone generally loved her. Marinette appeared to be the only other person who knew what Lila was doing, but her open attempts to stop Lila's lies had resulted in her being a target, and that was unnerving on many levels. Lila was generally a risk, not only to the power dynamic of the school, but also to Adrien's happiness and one of the people responsible for it. Chloé didn't like it and neither did Sabrina.

It was Sabrina's idea, actually. Chloé could take credit for it, but the fact was that it was Sabrina who had improvised every detail of her infiltration, and all Chloé was doing was her own homework and acting as mission control. She could take credit, but all she could think of was how disappointed Ladybug would be and she just sighed before diving back into equations. 

Ugh, math.

She sighed before giving in and calling Adrien.

* * *

"Hello?"

"Adrikins, math is haaaaaard!"

"Are you stuck on an equation?"

"I'm stuck on all of the equations! All of them! This is the worst."

"Alright, I'll help you on one condition."

"If you say I have to watch She-Ra with you then we are no longer friends."

"It's done by the lady who wrote Lumberjanes! It has background lesbians and implied foreground lesbians!"

"So did Voltron and look where that got you."

"Don't speak that cursed word in my presence."

"Oh shut up just pretend the series ended in season 7 and you'll be fine."

"I am never fine."

"Yes I know. Now will you please help me with my homework."

"..."

"Adrien..."

"You said please! I knew you had it in you!"

"Oh my god, why?"

"I'm so proud of you Chloé."

"Shut up."

"This calls for a celebration!"

"I'm just going to hire a tutor if you keep up with this."

"I'm so happy!"

"Please shut up about me saying please!"

"..."

"Are you...crying?"

"Tears of joy."

" _Oh my god._ "

* * *

Chloé had realized another thing about Adrien that she had forgotten since Mrs. Agreste's death.

He was a dramatic ho sometimes.

As she worked on her homework, with Adrien on speaker phone offering her tips and guidance when she got stuck and making terrible puns that she refused to laugh at, she decided she might actually watch She-Ra with him...but only when he stopped bothering her about it.

Maybe she could get Sabrina in on it when she did.

But first, they were going to take Lila down a peg.

Never say that Chloé and Sabrina hadn't done anything nice for Marinette.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't seen Voltron Season 8 and I don't want to, so Adrien can share my salt.
> 
> Screw you, canon. Let Chloé have actual character development.
> 
> Last chapter to go. That one might take a while, but I hope you enjoy!


	14. Lila

Lila was eager to get to school that Monday.

Why wouldn't she be? She got to escape her boring apartment with her boring mom and go be someone who everyone thought was incredible and amazing. She didn't have to worry about homework anymore (thank god for gullible Sabrina), and after the last week the only people who dared question her wouldn't even think about saying anything else. Anyone who had ever complained about being forced to move had clearly not mastered the ability to make themselves into more than a sadsack. Lila personally loved it.

Nothing could wrong for her now. She had already guaranteed it.

* * *

"Prince Ali's castle is one of the most lavish places I've ever been," Lila bragged, the lie coming as easily as if she had practiced it. "My bed frame was made of solid gold!"

Rose's friend (Julie?) simply shrugged as she looked at her phone.

"That just sounds painful," Rose noted, looking unimpressed.

Lila frowned. "Well it wasn't. The bed was stuffed with the softest feathers, and the room itself was full of expensive items. One pen in there would be worth enough to buy an entire hotel."

"That's nice."

Neither asked her any questions. Neither fawned over her. Julie just played on her phone and Rose was drawing a bouquet of flowers in her notebook, neither looking at her.

"Are you even paying attention?"

"Hey Rose, he sent me another one." Julie held out her phone so Rose could see and played a video. It was an animated cat hitting a keyboard as some weird video game song played in the background. Julie gave Rose a strange look, asking, "Did you introduce him to Undertale?"

"It's such a cute game! And you don't have to kill anybody!"

Julie just smiled and shook her head, before looking at Lila with a questioning look.

"Have you been here the whole time?"

Lila huffed and walked away.

What was wrong with those two?

* * *

"Jagged Stone let me hear the song he wrote for me and it was absolutely incredible! I nearly cried."

Alya ignored her, instead leaning over her desk to talk to Nino.

"How did your apology song go?"

"Pretty great, actually. Adrien told me he cried, and he was probably being dramatic but still."

Alya rolled her eyes. "That boy needs some TLC stat."

"I think Mrs. Cheng is on that."

"Good."

Lila frowned. "Um, hello?"

Alya looked at her, unimpressed. "Could you keep it down? I'm having a conversation with my boyfriend." Without waiting for a response, she turned back to Nino and said, "We just need to get my big sister involved. She'd beat up Mr. Agreste in a second if she learned how much of a dick he is."

"I would pay to watch that."

"I'd pay for that to happen," Chloé grumbled, and Alya and Nino looked at her with surprise as she froze, her eyes widening when she realized she was heard. "...I mean, he deserves it after all. At the very least I could pay bail."

"...You know what, that's actually a nice idea," Alya decided. "So I'll introduce Nora to Adrien and let her decide she likes him-"

"Which she will, since everyone likes my bro," Nino piped up.

"...God he'd be called a Mary Sue if this were a TV show," Alya muttered. "Anyway, then after leaves Nino can mention offhandedly that Mr. Agreste is a dick, which will get Nora concerned. Then..."

"I'll tell her about how he couldn't have a birthday party for no good reason and how he pulled him out of school for a petty reason, thus isolating him from his friends."

Chloé nodded. "That would piss anybody off, even if they don't like Adrien."

"Yeah, and Nora will definitely want to fight Mr. Agreste after that. Now, how to get Nathalié out of the way..."

"Um..."

The three plotting looked up to see Adrien staring at them, bug-eyed. Finally, after a long bit of silence, he spoke.

"Please don't beat up my dad?"

"I make no promises," Chloé deadpanned.

Lila stood there for a moment, unsure what she was supposed to do. She knew how to play the social game, but how were you supposed to react to people plotting the assault of a prominent fashion mogul in front of you.

Before she could greet Adrien, Mrs. Bustier asked everyone to be seated and class soon started.

* * *

Something was wrong.

No one in the class was listening to her. None of them were impressed when she told them anything. None of them were giving her more than a passing glance or remarks that barely counted as acknowledgment.

If she heard one more comment of "that's nice," she would immediately be akumatized out of rage.

What was wrong with them! She had them eating out of the palm of her hand and now they were completely ignoring her.

But that wasn't it. Every time she tried to sit with Adrien or get close to him, Alya and Marinette would appear on either side of him and start a conversation, or Chloé would grab his arm and drag him off to help her with homework, or Nino would actually step in her way and block her.

Of all the class, the only one still giving her the time of day was Sabrina, who was being as cheerful and attentive as always, but it wasn't enough. Lila didn't just want one, admittedly useful minion. She wanted the class to love her, and out of nowhere they were all ignoring her. She didn't get it. Did they know? Did they not care? What was wrong with them?!

She was stewing by the time lunch came by, the rest of the class filing out without a passing glance. Only Sabrina looked at her, smiling and giving a subtle nod.

Good. At least one thing was going right today.

Was it even worth it though? The class was ignoring her, and Marinette didn't appear to have a part in that. This could backfire on her big time if the class had lost interest in her. None of them had questioned her yet though...it could still work. If Marinette was responsible for this, then she would get what she deserved, and of not, she would at least be disposed of as a threat.

Maybe she just had to play this smarter. She'd handle that once Sabrina returned though.

It took several minutes before Sabrina finally slid into the room, holding out the prize.

"Took you long enough," Lila remarked, scowling. Then she took a closer look and her scowl grew deeper. "Why did you grab the box too? All I needed was the diary." She reached to grab the book as Sabrina spoke.

"Because of-"

SNAP!

Lila let out a shocked squeal, trying to pull her hand out of the box with no success no matter how much she tugged and shook.

"...that," Sabrina answered almost sheepishly. "Whoops!"

"Get it off!" Lila cried out, desparate.

"I can't." Her voice was calm...eerily calm.

"And why not?!"

"Because the only one who has the key is Marinette."

The new voice in the room caused Lila to flinch, and she turned to see Chloé standing in the doorway, checking her nails nonchalantly as if she hadn't just caught Lila in a compromising position.

"Look's like the jig is up, Lie-la," she added, looking up with a smirk on her face. "Looks like your plan to ruin Marinette only proved who the real scumbag is. You aren't getting out of this one...not without accepting our conditions."

Lila caught on the word "our", about to question it when she heard the click of a phone camera, and her face whirled towards Sabrina, holding up her camera beside her and snapping a picture before moving to join Chloé.

"I...What...?"

"You stare at Adrien a lot for someone who claims to get migraines caused by staring," Sabrina noted cheerfully, tapping away on her phone as she did.

Chloé stepped forward, her smirk falling into an utterly serious expression. "Now that we've got your attention, don't think I haven't caught onto your game, Rossi. You got lucky most of the people in this class are so trusting, especially the ones with direct lines to prove you wrong. But they'll figure it out, if they haven't already, so I think this little plot of yours has only dug yourself deeper. Unless, of course, you take our deal and we keep this as a little secret. Just the three of us and Marinette."

"...I didn't take it." Lila insisted, straightening up. "It was Sabrina who took it."

Chloé smirked again, looking vicious. "Right, but I have screenshots showing that you put her up to it. They include your phone number in them, probably as a quirk of Sabrina's messenger app, but that helps things, don't you think Sabrina?"

The girl nodded, still seeming cheerful and serene.

"That...that's illegal! I never consented to that!"

"Yes, and I'm sure Officer Raincomprix would definitely show sympathy to the girl who put his daughter up to committing a crime," Chloé observed. "Not to mention that you'd still have to confess to prove it, and theft charges are heftier than social retribution, don't you think?"

Lila was silenced. This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all.

"Our terms are simple," Sabrina piped up, slipping her phone into her purse. "First, you have to leave Adrien alone. More specifically, you are not allowed to be within two feet of him without his express consent, which is revoked the moment you try to coerce him. The consent allowance will account for situations where you have no choice, but if you infringe on his personal space again without his consent, we mass text the screenshots and the photos to the entire class and send them to Principle Damocles."

"And as for the other part," Chloé began, all mirth gone from her face again, "let's get one thing straight. Of all the people in the class, there are only two that I care about, and Marinette Dupain-Cheng certainly isn't one of them. But you crossed a line, Rossi, and since I happen to owe her one, the second part of our terms is to stop fucking with her."

Sabrina nodded seriously. "The two foot radius rule also applies to Marinette, but in addition any attempts by you to harm Marinette, her relationships, or her reputation will be met with immediate release of the evidence to the class and the Principal."

Lila was shaking, a whirlwind of different emotions flying through her all at once. Goddammit, where was an akuma when she needed one?!

With another cheerful smile, Sabrina continued, "And just so we are clear, I once managed to get a perfect copy of one of Marinette's designs without her noticing me once." Her voice grew ominous, despite her cheerful expression and tone. Lila wondered if it was her imagination. "Just because you can't see me doesn't mean I'm not there, watching you. I _will_ know if you break our agreement, Lila."

"...She treats you like shit," Lila stated, pulling together the last remaining tatters of her composure. "She won't ever treat you like a human being. You'll always be a slave to her if you do this. Don't you realize that?"

Chloé seemed stiff and was looking at the floor, but Sabrina just gave a giggle.

"Oh Lila, you're so funny," she said, the ominous cheerfulness back. "But you have no right to say that when you did the same thing. So if Chloé is that terrible, what does that say about you?"

She had nothing to say to that. She had nothing to say to any of it. There was no lie she could use to get out of this, no way to manipulate the situation to her favor, and no damn akuma to make this easy for her.

An akuma was her last chance, but none came.

"So?" Chloé asked, expectantly. "Lunch won't last forever. Better hurry before the whole class comes back and finds you with Marinette's diary latched to your hand. Tick, tock, tick-"

"I accept your terms," Lila finally relented, gritting her teeth tightly.

"Smart. Glad you could see things our way." Chloé pulled out her phone and began texting, noting aloud. "I'm informing Marinette of your little situation so she can unlock you."

Moments later, a furious looking Marinette entered, stalking towards Lila with an expression more terrifying than Sabrina's ominous smile, jabbing a small key in the lock and releasing the box from her hand.

"Don't you dare do anything like that again," Marinette said, her voice dark and dangerous. Lila could only stand there, paralyzed, not even thinking about grabbing the book inside before Marinette pulled the box off and slammed it shut, turning to Chloé and Sabrina as she did.

"Thanks for letting me know."

"No problem!" Sabrina answered brightly. "I think we should keep this between the four of us, at least for now. No need to bring Hawkmoth into this."

Marinette grimaced, clearly not enjoying the idea. "Alright. But only this once." She looked at Lila and looked almost...sad as she remarked, "You know, we could have been friends if you had just been honest." With that, she walked away, the door shutting behind her.

"Ready to go, Chloé?" Sabrina asked.

"...You go on ahead, let the chauffeur know I'm right behind you."

"Alright!" With that, Sabrina left the room with a delightful smile on her face, as if she hadn't just taken part in a blackmail scheme.

Chloé turned to Lila and crossed her arms.

"You know, I did you a favor."

Lila scoffed. "Yeah, blackmail doesn't really count."

With a roll of her eyes, Chloé groaned. "You're clueless. If we hadn't arranged your plot to our ends, you would have been found out and your chances here would have been spoiled forever. That box won't budge for anything after all."

Lila's eyes narrowed. "Don't act like you did me any favors. All you did was ruin everything."

"Oh really? Well let me tell you something, _Lie-la_. If the class had been the ones to find you with your hand in that box, all the lies in the world wouldn't have helped you. You would have no chance to be anyone other than the girl who stole from the class darling for no good reason. You would have no proof Sabrina had anything to do with it, and no way to play it off as a mistake. You would be mistrusted by everyone in this class for the rest of your time here, not just for being a liar, but also for being a thief. A bully.

"What Sabrina and I did for you was give you a fighting chance. Oh, the class will see through you, if they haven't already. They all have connections and smarts and won't be gullible for too long. But they won't abandon you for that. So I think Marinette worded it best. If you really want anyone here to give a shit about you, give the bullshit a rest."

Chloé turned for the door, but paused. "I'm giving you a second chance. I used all of my chances up a long time ago, and look where it got me. My best friend since childhood gets emotional when I say please and my only other friend is my friend because I bullied her into the role. Everyone else hates me, and self awareness is a bitch, and I don't even think Rose would give me the time of day. And that is on me."

She looked back at the frozen Lila, her eyes cold and firm. "None of those people you lied to will be willing to wait forever." With that, she was out the door, leaving Lila alone.

Fuck.

* * *

No akuma came. 

Lila guessed Hawkmoth had been busy, and at any rate it was too exhausting to hold onto her anger at the blackmail that long. By the time he was available, she would be too numb to be of much use.

From her place at the back, she could see the rest of the class visiting. Sabrina and Adrien were sitting on either side of Chloé, helping her with the papers in front of her. Rose and...Julie(?) were talking excitedly with Mylène and Ivan about something. Kim and Alix were loudly arguing about whether Max or Nathaniel were cooler while both subjects of debate looked embarrassed and annoyed. And Alya and Marinette were sharing a pair of earbuds plugged into an iPod Nino was holding, all three smiling.

It seemed so...picturesque. A complete image.

And she wasn't part of it.

She looked down at her desk, planning her next move.

She could ask her mother to transfer her to another school. It would be easy to convince her to move her to a school farther away from the akuma attacks. Lila could start all over, cultivate her reputation again, have the whole school at her feet.

But...all she could think of was Marinette's face and Chloé's words.

_"We could have been friends if you had just been honest."_

_"I used all of my chances up a long time ago, and look where it got me."_

Chloé was wrong. Lila had infinite second chances, as long as she left. No point staying, not with Adrien as a lost cause and the entire class suddenly ignoring her. She'd find some other pretty boy and some other class, and it would be perfect.

"Hey."

She looked up to see Julie and Rose standing in front of her, Rose smiling warmly at her.

"A friend of mine sent me a compilation of Bongo Cat memes," Julie said, her voice quiet yet firm. "Want to watch with us?"

"They are really cute, and Juleka hasn't watched them yet," Rose added, sounding hopeful.

Lila looked at the two of them, before shrugging. "Sure."

Rose gave a delighted grin and quickly squeezed herself and Juli- _Juleka_ beside Lila on the bench. Juleka propped her phone up on the desk before hitting play, and soon Lila found herself giggling along with them at some of the silly songs and ridiculous editing.

Maybe this was what Chloé was talking about.

Lila looked at Rose and Juleka briefly, and wondered if they knew she had lied about it all. They way they had dismissed her before...maybe the whole class knew. And yet...here they were. Watching adorable memes with her in the back of the class.

...Maybe she'd stay. Maybe she'd take the second chance.

She could always leave later.

* * *

"Hey Marinette," Adrien whispered, catching her attention before gesturing to the back of the class.

She looked, and soon noticed Rose, Juleka, and Lila all talking. But there was no mention of princes or rockstars or kittens. Instead, they appeared to be discussing...memes? Not to mention that Rose and Lila seemed to be equal members of the conversation, with Juleka occasionally commenting. Lila wasn't running the conversation with her deception.

Was this part of Rose's mysterious plan? Because somehow, it appeared to be working.

"Huh."

"Guess even Lila can figure it out," Adrien noted with a shrug. "And hey...I'm sorry about not doing anything."

She turned back to him, surprised.

"I just...I should have realized how much I was letting her get away with. Lila and Chloé. And I shouldn't have blamed you for how you felt or reacted either time."

"It's okay," she assured him. "Yeah, it was upsetting but...I get it. You have to brush things off a lot, don't you? In the public eye and stuff."

Adrien nodded. "Still, this was different. I should have done something."

"It's fine, Adrien. I get it. On both accounts." She gave him a warm smile, adding, "Thank you for believing me."

Adrien nodded, smiling back before turning to Nino.

Marinette turned to Alya, about to pick up the conversation again, when Alya shoved her phone into Marinette's hands.

"Huh?"

"Just...read it?"

Marinette looked down, realizing what it was by the title.

_Ladyblog Corrections_

It was a post, apologizing for an interview posted months before, explaining how Alya had taken it down for the sake of accuracy and how she would provide a link to a transcript with the false statements marked if she was privately messaged about it. And Marinette recognized the post it was talking about.

"I...I haven't posted it yet. I wanted to ask you to proofread it."

Marinette looked up at Alya, who looked sad.

"I'm sorry. I was such a hypocrite to you. Please forgive me?"

"Of course I forgive you." Marinette hugged her best friend, adding, "All I wanted was for someone to believe me and stick with me."

Alya nodded. "I'll make sure I don't fail to do it next time."

The two girls finally released each other just as Nino grabbed them and Adrien to show them an obscure music video, and the four friends watched together as Marinette decided this was a good start to the week, despite the hiccup earlier.

She wouldn't trust Lila for a long time...but maybe she could see someday giving her another chance, once she proved she deserved it.

If Marinette could trust Chloé to be a superhero, even temporarily, then maybe someday she could trust Lila to be better.

But she would just have to wait and see.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Notes in order:**  
>  * What did you guys think of Rose's plan? It probably wasn't as devious as you all expected, but Lila is motivated by wanting attention and so Rose decided to deny her that attention when she lied. She just had to get the class to agree to do so too.  
> * Rose completed the pacifist run of Undertale and hasn't touched the game since. Juleka finds it adorable how she seriously she took Flowey's request at the end of the game.  
> * Alya was told about the song Nino used to apologize.  
> * One thing that Alya and Chloé can agree on: Mr. Agreste getting beaten up by Nora would be awesome.  
> * Adrien is concerned that his friends who generally don't like each other are plotting to beat up his dad.  
> * Lila has no idea how the fuck to respond.  
> * Gabriel received a giant stack of paperwork after an employee of his was akumatized over the weekend and thus was occupied while Lila was getting pissed. (Yes the akuma that possessed his employee was the one that Mylène outran. That was why Marinette was so frazzled when she finally went down to meet Ivan and Mylène.)  
> * Sabrina really could take over the world if she wanted to, but she'll just settle for blackmailing teenage girls that screw with the nicest person in class and make her friend by transitive property uncomfortable for now.  
> * Yeah, Lila might not be wrong about Chloé, but Sabrina was on the receiving end of her hypocrisy, and Chloé ends up surprising Sabrina afterward.  
> * Chloé is not wrong about the blackmail being the best outcome for Lila. If the two of them hadn't planned the situation out, Lila would have been caught and the consequences would have been much more severe.  
> * Max and Nathaniel both regret having hyperactive and _loud_ friends at times, while Kim and Alix both know their friends are kind of dorks but won't let anyone else say that about them.  
> * What Rose is intending to teach Lila is simple: That lying won't get her the attention she wants, but that she and others are willing to be friends if she tells the truth. That's why she and Juleka went up to her later and hung out with her.  
> * When Lila finds out that Rose and Juleka actually know Prince Ali, she will be very embarrassed. Ali offers to be friends and soon Lila is also getting sent memes and realizing being friends with a prince was a lot less glamorous than she thought.  
> * Sorry Marinette and Adrien didn't get full chapters. We just see so much of their perspective already that I thought that the last chapter should be a Lila-centric one.  
> * The intention of this chapter is to show the same thing I did for the rest of the class; Lila is just a kid, a devious kid who borders on being, if she isn't, a pathological liar, but a kid nonetheless. She can learn and grow too, and she is capable of changing. There will be roadblacks and she will screw up, not to mention she won't just let go of her anger towards Ladybug and Marinette in a day, but Rose and Juleka helped her make a step in the right direction and hopefully she'll continue going that way. That's why she was the POV character for most of the chapter.
> 
> Thank you guys for all your wonderful comments! This story was fun to write and I was so surprised by how many people commented and responded. I'm sorry this final chapter took so long, but I hope you all liked it?
> 
> My tumblr is [boopboopitydoop](https://boopboopityboop.tumblr.com). You are welcome to come talk to me there at any time, at least while I'm still on break.
> 
> Thank you guys for reading. Later!


End file.
